OCTOBER 11-17, 2012 Your Local News
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Bath Community Day
The Home News homenewspa.com
School Board Sees Slides of Student’s Environmental Trip By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
On Monday at the Northampton Area School Board meeting, Student Council representative Ben Longacre showed slides of his trip to Japan. Earlier this year Longacre was part of the American Youth Leadership Program that took a large number of youths and five adults to Japan. It was entitled JAWS or the Japan-American Watershed Stewardship project. Longacre’s slides first
Ben Longacre showed Washington, D.C., where the group had orientation at the Catholic University of America, and then tours of many points of interest in the nation’s capitol before they flew to Tokyo, Japan. Many scenes were shown of Japan, as well as the environmental studies the youths did. Longacre said it was the best four weeks of his life and he hopes to return to Japan as
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Gazebo Dedicated on Bath Community Day
he pursues his career. Board Matters One of the items on Monday night’s agenda was to pass a resolution authorizing the administration and the solicitor to prepare and file all appeals necessary to classify the property at 1417 Laubach Ave. as exempt from real estate taxes. It is the site of the proposed new middle school, and Solicitor Steven Miller said, “The county makes the call.” Usually, public properties are exempt. Board President David Gogel recalled that when the school district bought the former Haff Hospital for its administration building, they had to pay property taxes for a while until negotiations were done with the county to change that policy. Solicitor Miller and the NASD administration will do that all over again in this instance. • These policies were adopted, effective Oct. 9, 2012: Sudden cardiac arrest, food allergy management, use of medications, controlled substances/paraphernalia, classroom animal maintenance/ safety, and child/student abuse. • Resignations were accepted from Roxann Martuscelli as cafeteria monitor at the high school; Phillip Haney, as marching band assistant at the high school; and Janet Ulshafer, gifted instructional assistant, for the purpose of super-annuated retirement. • Approved was the hiring of Barbara Watkins as a dis-
The weather was cloudy and cool, but the dedication of the Keystone Park gazebo warmed the crowd on Bath Community Day. As Sharon Davis remarked, “The gazebo epitomizes everything the Bath Business & Community Partnership stands for.” She said materials for the building were obtained at cost, and Curtiss Markulics, who did most of the woodwork, was a master carpenter in her eyes. She said that what the BBCP wanted to be in 10 years has been accomplished in so little time, including the farmers market and gazebo, which will be used for entertainment. $4,000 for the gazebo was obtained from the Main Street Lehigh Valley program, and no public money was needed. Ms. Davis said a plaque will be placed in the gazebo noting all the people who worked on the gazebo. “This was the most gratifying project I ever worked on,” she said as people came together and worked to get the project completed. Mary Kositz thanked the key people who helped and the private donations that made it possible to build the gazebo in less than one year, from June to September. “It was appropriate that it came during Bath’s 275th anniver-
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By BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
TAKING PART IN GAZEBO CEREMONY were (l-r): Council president Robert Fields; Rodney Long, LV Foundation member; Sharon Davis, Main Street Foundation coordinator; Mayor Donald Wunderler; Mary Kositz, BBCP chairperson; and Councilman John Kearns. – Home News photo
Chuck’s Champions Scott Ellis of Danielsville has been gearing up for the ride of his life, a 600+ mile ride from Main to New York City for quite some time. The Danielsville man joined 19 other riders this past Sunday in Portland Maine and the group embarked on an eightday journey to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis. The MS Great 8 Foundation Ride is in its third year and includes the largest group of riders so far. The riders, from all over the United States will travel through eight states over the eight day period, ending their journey in New York City on October 14th. Along the way they are making stops at places like The Leonard Florence Center in New Hampshire, an MS re-
Carol Ritter . ..................5
Bath...............................9
Church .........................13
Opinion..........................2
Sports............................6
Northampton...............11
Obituaries ...................14
Gab Over the Fence ........3
Senior Citizens...............8
Nazareth . ....................12
Poilce Blotter ...............15
habilitation facility that helps people regain their independence. Each of the riders has a story to tell, a story of why they choose to participate in the ride. Scott Ellis rides in memory of his father Chuck who lost his battle to MS in January of 2011. Charles Ellis was a resident of Moore Township for over forty years. He and his wife Dolores had two sons, Scott and his older brother Steve. Chuck was just 40 years old when he was diagnosed with MS in the late 80’s, a time when not much was known about MS or treatments for it. Chuck’s health began to fade after hazy eyesight led to his diagnosis. At that time, Scott Continued on page 18
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